U.N.: More Than 600,000 Syrians Have Returned Home In 2017

A rising number of Syrians who fled are returning to their homes, with more than 600,000 going back in the first seven months of this year, according to the International Organization for Migration . The U.N. migration agency says that number is comparable to the number of returns spanning the entire year in 2016. The Syrian government has been stressing that people are coming home, NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports, and state media have been posting photos and accounts of such returns. However, it's worth noting that the rate of new displacements during the beginning of this year was significantly higher than the number of returns. According to the IOM, "an estimated 808,661 people were displaced, many for the second or third time, and over 6 million in...